We were flabbergasted when BBC Radio 4 Food Programme presenter Sheila Dillon phoned us back in March with the news that we were among the three finalists for Best Food Producer in the 2017 BBC Food & Farming Awards, selected from thousands of nominations.

Later that month judges Sheila Dillon and Giorgio Locatelli visited some of our farm trials and the Bean Store. After showing them round we rolled up the warehouse door and sat down to a feast of our British pulses and grains.

Feasting with Sheila Dillon, Giorgio Locatelli and the Hodmedod team on the BBC Food & Farming Awards judging visit

With the awards ceremony postponed from 8th June to 20th September (thanks Theresa May) we then had a long wait to find out which of the three finalists - Cabrito, Earth's Crust bakery and us - were the winners.

On Wednesday evening we were blown away when Giorgio Locatelli announced "...and the winners are.... 'Odmedods!"

We were delighted that three of our farmers - Professor Martin Wolfe of Wakelyns Agroforestry, Mark Lea of Green Acres Farm, and Andrew Fairs of Fairking Great British Seeds - had were there for the evening, along with team members Joe Gaze and Emma Wilkin, and the three Hodmedod founders Josiah Meldrum, William Hudson and Nick Saltmarsh.

The award is fantastic recognition of everything we and our farmers have been doing over the last five years to get more pulses and grains growing on British farms and into British kitchens - and a great boost to do more.

Nick Saltmarsh

Author

4 Responses

Deborah Merchant

February 02, 2018

I have just bought a can of Hodmedod’s British Carlin Peas from Morrisons – hadn’t heard of either the peas (Badger Beans) or Hodmedod’s before so it’s great that you are getting out into the wider market place.
Looking forward to making (yet) more soup with them and trying out some of your other varieties.
It’s great to see such enterprising companies out there. Need more women on your team though.

Claire Domoney

October 24, 2017

Very well done – it is marvellous to gain such recognition for wonderful home-grown produce, providing healthy protein-rich plant food while contributing to sustainable agriculture.

Mischa Borris

September 25, 2017

Well done! Anything which helps the UK to be more self-sufficient in food is to be welcomed. Over the last few years there’s been an increase in the range of UK-grown fruit and vegetables that once would have been imported, which is great – I’ve even bought melons at a local farmers’ market!. But I live in London N16 and it’s frustrating that there seem to be so few shops that sell your products. I realise that it may at the moment be a question of quantity (hopefully now you’ve shown it can be done more will want to work with you), but are you planning to increase distribution?

Trish

September 25, 2017

Congratulations on your win!

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Also in Hodmeblog

Professor Martin Wolfe was a great friend and mentor to us. A true pioneer, Martin pursued his research into agroforestry, co-cropping, crop populations, new crop trials and more at his Suffolk farm Wakelyns. Believing that sustainability depended not just on a whole farm approach but on radical change to the whole food system, he shared his expertise widely and generously. Martin died peacefully at home earlier this month. He leaves a lasting legacy of work, not least his YQ wheat population, and his memory will remain a guiding inspiration to us.

Pioneering farmers Peter and Andrew Fairs, of Great Tey in Essex, have successfully grown the first ever crop of British chia. These tiny oil-rich seeds represent another step in Hodmedod's mission to increase the diversity of both British farming and British diets.